,84 T n A N S A C T I X 8 . 



is a still harder question to answer. I have bcconio satisfied, that the 

 w.iy most land is managed, after taking off a crop of grain in the 

 summer, does not tend to improve it ! Most land that is to be culti- 

 vated the next year, after taking off a crop, will produce a heavy coat 

 of weeds, which, if turned under, will be destroyed and the land 

 benefited. But, say some, we don't like to have our land lie up to a 

 hot sun three or four months ! Then, sow on a crop of rye immediately. 

 It will cost but little. Half seed enough scatters v/hcn you gather 

 the grain, in many instances ; so that less than one-half a bushel will 

 ho enough seed for an acre, and the feed in the fall more than pays the 

 cost of seed and ploughing. You will have a green crop of rye to turn 

 in as manure in the spring, worth according to my experience, five or 

 six loads of manure to the acre. I would say, then, to brother I'aimers, 

 turn over your stubble land, where you intend to cultivate next year, 

 as soon as possil)le and scatter on a little seed, and you will see a 

 marked change in the land. It will produce a heavier crop of corn, 

 or rye, or oats, with the same manure. And you will receive some 

 indirect benefits in many ways, some of which I will name : 



1. You will thoroughly pulverise the land, so that you will save 

 more in fitting your land for a crop, and in first hoeing, than all it cost 

 you the year before. 



2. Y^on will destroy the seeds of all noxious weeds, by turning 

 them under, before they ripen. 



3. You will be very apt to plough deeper. The team having be- 

 come thoroughly rested since you finished your Spring work, will take 

 hold M-ith a •' vUl ;" and if the plough goes into the old" hard pan," 

 which has been formed in years back, they'll not stop, but turn up 

 two or three inches of it and so give the roots a chance to run down, 

 which I have found to be of great benefit the past dry summer. 



Sunderland, Oct. 10, 1854. 



REPORT ON PLOWING. 



BY DAVID KICE, M. D. 



The preparation of the soil with the plow, an important prelimi- 

 nary to the reception of seed, is, every thing considered, the gi'cuvd- 

 work of farming. It lies at the bottom of the whole subject, and is 

 its grand basis. As we enter upon this theme, a multitude of inqui- 

 ries suggest themselves. 



To a few of the most important, we will give our attention. Many 

 things are positively necessary, in order to have the work done prop- 



